Marriott’s ice!: more than 300 Harbin artisans carve Christmas for eight US resorts

At Marriott International, the holiday season begins with an arrival. More than 300 master ice artisans from Harbin in China have reached Gaylord Hotels and selected JW Marriott resorts across the United States, and over the coming weeks they will turn millions of pounds of ice into ice!, the walk-through Christmas experience that Gaylord Hotels created in 2001.

This year the attraction opens at eight resorts nationwide, starting in November. Two of them show ice! for the first time: Gaylord Pacific Resort in Chula Vista, California, and JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort in Arizona. Three themes are new to the line-up, built around Harry Potter, Home Alone and Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Nearly forty days with saw and tongs

The work follows a fixed rhythm. Over nearly 40 days the artisans cut thousands of ice blocks into scenes that together cover more than 20,000 square feet. They work from design books of 300 pages, with specialised carving tools and techniques handed down over generations. The raw material arrives as 300-pound blocks and then meets chippers, tongs, handsaws, grinders and chainsaws. What comes out ranges from details no larger than a coin to scenes more than 30 feet tall.

Colour comes from a proprietary process, light from accent spotlights. The model is the internationally acclaimed Harbin Ice and Snow Festival, whose tradition of hand-carved ice displays ice! has brought to the United States. Once the attraction opens, several artisans stay on site to look after the sculptures and to show guests how the work is done, in live carving demonstrations every day.

“Welcoming the artisans back to our resorts is one of the most anticipated milestones of the holiday season,” says Johann Krieger, regional vice president of Marriott International.

Nine degrees Fahrenheit and a blue parka

Inside, the halls are kept at 9 degrees Fahrenheit, about minus 13 degrees Celsius, so that the carvings keep their edges. Visitors bundle up in the attraction’s signature blue parkas and walk through scenes, archways and passages, with two-storey ice slides along the way and plenty of corners made for a photograph. Since the debut at Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Marriott counts tens of millions of visitors, and more than 2 million pounds of ice go into the scenes.

Eight stories at eight resorts

Each resort tells its own Christmas story. The two debut locations:

• Gaylord Pacific Resort, Chula Vista, California: A Charlie Brown Christmas, 20 November 2026 to 3 January 2027
• JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort, Phoenix, Arizona: Elf, 18 November 2026 to 3 January 2027

New themes at established venues:

• Gaylord Opryland Resort, Nashville, Tennessee: Home Alone, 6 November 2026 to 2 January 2027
• Gaylord Rockies Resort, Aurora, Colorado: Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, 20 November 2026 to 3 January 2027
• Gaylord Texan Resort on Lake Grapevine, Texas: Harry Potter, 13 November 2026 to 3 January 2027

Returning locations and themes:

• Gaylord National Resort, National Harbor, Maryland: Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, 14 November 2026 to 3 January 2027
• Gaylord Palms Resort, Kissimmee, Florida: The Polar Express, 13 November 2026 to 3 January 2027
• JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort, San Antonio, Texas: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, 23 November 2026 to 3 January 2027

What to plan for

ice! is part of a larger programme the resorts call So Much Christmas, with seasonal décor and a long list of holiday attractions. Overnight packages and tickets are sold through SoMuchChristmas.com, where the full line-up is listed as well. Offerings differ from resort to resort, and terms, conditions and blackout dates apply, so check the details for your resort before you book.